NICARAGUA: Sandinista presidential candidate Daniel Ortega closes campaign with final rally in Managua.

Record ID: 212618

  • Title: NICARAGUA: Sandinista presidential candidate Daniel Ortega closes campaign with final rally in Managua.
  • Date: 3rd November 2006
  • Summary: (W3) MANAGUA, NICARAGUA (NOVEMBER 1, 2006) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENES) SANDINISTA SUPPORTERS RALLYING DURING THE CAMPAIGN CLOSING OF THEIR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DANIEL ORTEGA VARIOUS OF SANDINISTA SUPPORTERS WAVING FLAGS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DANIEL ORTEGA GREETING SUPPORTERS ORTEGA SUPPORTERS CARRYING POSTERS WITH PICTURE OF ORTEGA AND CHANTING 'A PEOPLE UNITED WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!' VARIOUS OF CARAVAN WITH ORTEGA STANDING IN VEHICLE AND WAVING TO SUPPORTERS CHILDREN MAKING SIGN OF 'V' FOR VICTORY ORTEGA SUPPORTER ON PLATFORM WAVING SANDINISTA FLAG FIRECRACKERS GOING OFF IN SKY
  • Embargoed: 18th November 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nicaragua
  • Country: Nicaragua
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA685WI3MY49NIVIA1D0SZ1IN0V
  • Story Text: Former Marxist revolutionary Daniel Ortega closed his presidential campaign ahead of Sunday's election with a final rally in Managua on Wednesday (November 1). Helped by a weak record of pro-Washington governments, Ortega could emerge from 16 years in opposition to become Nicaragua's president.
    Thousands of supporters waved red Sandinista flags and crowded the street as Ortega's procession drove into central Managua.
    At the end of a campaign colored by fierce rhetoric and fireworks, polls show Ortega within a whisker of nailing the presidency in one round.
    His pro-job rhetoric energized the crowd in the impoverished Central American nation. "With the financing, there will be work for all Nicaraguans which is what is needed in this country... work and health," Ortega told cheering supporters at his final rally in Managua.
    Voting will be watched closely by the United States, which trained and financed Contra rebels to fight Ortega's Sandinista government in a 1980s civil war that killed 30,000 people.
    A Sandinista win would likely irk U.S. President George W. Bush, whose father, then president, celebrated the end of Ortega's decade-long rule in 1990.
    It would also mark a victory for President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, a U.S. foe. Chavez has shipped cheap fuel to Nicaragua to ease blackouts and to try to boost Ortega's chances.
    Opinion polls have Ortega well in the lead, thanks to a split in the ruling Liberal Party. Washington hopes center-right former banker Eduardo Montealegre will stave off an outright first-round defeat and beat Ortega in a runoff. "With documents in hand and defending our vote. There will be no fraud," said Ortega, "Victory is ours!"
    Nicaragua is still scarred by the 1979 Sandinista revolution against the Somoza family dictatorship and the civil war that followed.
    Most Nicaraguans say years of pro-market reforms by governments favoured by Washington have created a rich elite but done nothing to improve their lives. Many are angry over a series of corruption scandals.
    Die-hard Ortega backers say he deserves another chance at running the country, this time without the ravages of a civil war and a crippling U.S. trade embargo. Ortega lost two previous election attempts to regain the presidency.
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